Homeland, the Emmy-winning thriller starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis,
has been renewed for a fourth season

Homeland has been renewed for a fourth, 12-episode season after its audience has grown by more than a quarter in its third season, American network Showtime has announced.

The Emmy-winning American thriller, which stars Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, has averaged 6.5 million viewers through the first three episodes of its third season.

Homeland won a trio of top Emmy awards – best drama series, and best actor and actress in a drama – in its first season.

Homeland, which is based on the Israeli series Hatufim (Prisoners of War), was first aired in America in October 2011.

Showtime also said that has renewed drama Masters of Sex, about the William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson research team that pioneered the field of human sexual response in the 1960s, for a second season.